Lately, I have been redirecting some clients, mainly consumers, to another party that is welcoming there business.
I have been taught how to do this by my colleague @s3rg3 about of year ago.
He gave me fantastic advice because I was struggling with this.
The whole key is to not offend the client, help him with any questions and then redirect him to another party. Leaving everyone happy.
This whole process has become easier for me now that I have crypto as back-up.
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I have been self-employed for nearly 10 years.
When I just started I jumped on every client, often charging less then I deserved and treating them like kings.
It's a beginner mistake that I think most of the people new to business have made but a logical one because you need them.
I have been struggling for years trying to fix this mistake. Slowly increasing my hourly rate and apologizing for it along the way. It truly is a constant guilt trip.
Until crypto came along.
Trading crypto gave me a second source of income and that has opened up possibilities.
I increased my hourly rate a lot. The biggest jump was $50 to $85 (before taxes) for businesses. (also because of @s3rg3)
For consumers, it's now $60.
Admittedly I lost a few clients along the way, but also gained some new ones and kept a lot of them.
It's nice to get paid what you feel that you deserve. (the whole world will tell you and make you feel that this is a bad thing, especially if you are perceptible for this, but trust me it's not, in the end, it's your livelihood.).
My biggest lesson that I learned from all of this:
"A client will forget how much he paid (or how much discount you gave him) and will only remember who helped him and how well."
Crypto gave me the confidence to make the jump. But I should have done much sooner.
Now, I have the luxury of picking my clients.
I'm very busy lately but I still want to help everyone.
That's where @s3rg3 comes in.
Example
Yesterday I got a call from a client. A laptop would not boot up properly and he asked me to take a look.
I went there and after 30 minutes was 99% sure the HD was near dying.
From experience, I already know what's needed. Replace HD, reinstall windows, restore backup etc...
Hours and hours of work.
The problem is that I have become too expensive for this.
I also don't have the time anymore.
So I told the client if I have to do it it will cost him $400 (and explaining why), so I recommended him to take it to the local pc shop that I know will help him well.
I rang up the shop and ask for an estimation. They could install an SSD 250gig + reinstall for $180.
A much better deal for the client.
The client was happy and so was I.
He gave a small tip too.
Charging what you deserve is an interesting experience and a scary one. But if you are good at what you do and know it, it's worth exploring.
Hi @exyle,
I can relate to this. I have been working for myself the last 14 years. Since 2010 I have been mainly working in the IT and Digital Marketing space. Increasing my hourly rate was something I feared doing because I was worried I might loose the client.
So, the last two years I went with the going rate and I simply just increase my rate by 10% every year. However, what I have done is downsize my clients. I go according to the 80/20 rule. 20% of my clients bring in 80% of my money. So I focus on them primarily.
The smaller ones find it difficult to pay me. I always have issues getting money out of them. So I decided to kindly pass them on to other interested parties.
Good post.
Later,
Shaun
I miss the times when I could choose my clients. Although I have my own company now we work for a great company. The prices are set by them, the number of workers is decided by contract. I haven't felt like an entrepreneur for years.
The future of small businesses in the telecommunications sector in Spain is very sad.
Large companies are too busy distributing dividends among their shareholders, and small businesses pay the costs.
I'm glad to see that in other regions of Europe you can still work in the old way.
“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.”
― Jessie B. Rittenhouse
I love this quote. I remember seeing it years ago and been amazed by how that sums up the whole concept of self-worth. Thanks for reminder!
Shame I can't resteem a comment!
thanks for the sentiment anyway!! Hope all is well in London and you did not lose the WHITE TIGER!!
We could never lose such a precious and endangered species! All is well here, hope everything is well with you too!
hahaha. glad to hear :D
That's a great quote!
thanks!
Yes very true, people never remember how much he paid, but only remember who helped him and how much well. Great quote, very realistic, yes life is not easy it is full of hardships and challenge. You have successfully over come your journey. Thanks for sharing such a valuable message, how is your mom now. Please convey my good wishes for her @clio. Thanks my friend.
You can even charge commissions from local PC shop for redirecting your customers, i guess they won't mind.
They offered. I just said help them properly it's all I want.
@exyle The Beauty of what you just shared is the FREEDOM you have now to pick and choose and not feel obligated to apologize for anything. You always treat everyone with kindness and respect. You have now given yourself the the Best Gift of all.........
I applaud your attitude! You have learned many lessons I missed along the way. Congratulations!
Thank you. But it makes one wonder what else is to learn out there!
Wow is a great advice
"A client will forget how much he paid (or how much discount you gave him) and will only remember who helped him and how well."
I work in service of delivery of boxes from US to Honduras and is very truth the people remember only the service if is of quality or is the bad. counted the first impresion .
nice post. i can imagine it's hard to do that. I did help consumers in the past with computer problems. but stopped with it. The consumer always thinks he must pay too much. BEcause it's a computer they think you can do all for $10. But if they bring the car to the garage for 15 minutes and they charge $50 then they pay and accept it..
At least that is my experience..
Excellent post my friend, well i think the most important thing in any business or public dealing is a person's behavior, if a person have a great behavior well then the price won't matter at all, your face always contains a very nice smile on it my friend and this surely gives great impact to consumers and your way of talking is excellent and always full of love and all these things gives you an extra edge in business dealing, just stick with love, peace and respect my friend, this is a great course and surely produce fantastic result in the end, Stay blessed
Hours of the most tedious work!
Do you tell all your clients to backup documents to the cloud or a 2nd drive?
If they are your regulars then i guess it's good to offer extra tips that will save you time later.
Have a good day :)
I usually recommend a backup. But they don't always want it.
Yes i agree with you @exyle. But am sure you can choose your client because you are already established at what you do, but if you were young in the business you will want all the clients that come and even more and you would even be angry if a client of yours goes to another person, i guess. Because at this point you are interested in making a lot the profit you can make from your business.
Good post @exyle,you see you got a tip for just directing the client to another, everyone was happy. Good one
Nice post there exyle. True talk. I couldn't agree more. Desperation can make us loose our personal worth. We demand less than what we actually deserve. And its just the cycle of life. At some point when you realise your true worth, ofcourse not under any pressure, you then realise how a fool others have taken you. This is a real message for so many.. Kudos. See you at the top
Wow!!, this is a good write-up, when I was reading i was really carried away with your motivational words. Thanks so much @exyle for sharing your life experience. It's a good one.
I learned something from it.
It isa mistake that we all make, charging too little for our work when we know we deserve more, just so we can get work. It is hard staring out. We jump at every chance and some of those cost us dearly. I am happy that you have now found the freedom to be able to make choices...
legacy of experience is everything with computers. their is the fix and their is the remedy, both need the user to be educated to the WHY ;)
This is interesting. Even small things will make a big difference. Instead of snubbing the client, redirecting them is a good way to keep up the relationship.
Yes!
This is great advice. Always know what you're worth and never work for anything less (if you can help it). I'm not there, but would like to make crypto and maybe trading my entire income (or most of it at least).
It takes courage to ask for what you think you deserve, but in many fields of work you can't really do that. I mean you can but that doesn't mean you'll get it :)
Wow ! Interesting one !!
You have been doing great here !!!
Thank you so much for this motivational post !
A good approach to the matter and you are right, crypto provides excellent opportunities for our life and this must be used now. You, for example, began to approach your work more rationally, this is all the charm for me! Thank you @exyle
W
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My dear friend....
Wel done and perfect work...
Upvoted...
post of the day. i love to your blog..have a nice day @exyle
oh my god
Thumbs up for actually helping customers instead of just shoving overpriced services down their throats 👍
Good work!
Nice upcoted..plz visit my page
Great post. It's not really easy when starting to direct a client else where, but it's the right decision to take.
Same here. When i started my business, I was collecting close to nothing, but as I built up my confidence, I increased my fee.
Good post. It's surely good business to direct clients to other people when you can solve their problem, or they don't agree with your fee. It takes some level of maturity though.
Wow,youve been self employed for 10years, wow that is a really long time. Am an entrepreneur too, but it has not been easy at all
I believe when people are competitors, and they learn to work together in ways such a way as directing jobs they can't do at the time to his competitor, especially if they do this sincerely, everyone will gain, and everyone will be happy.
LoL , that's a bit expensive :) 400 for fixing pc. For 800 you can buy a new one :)
Good one @exyle, for me when I want a job to be done, what I consider first is how well you can do your job and not price first. Price comes later.
Thanks for sharing, enjoy the vote!
Awesome. When I first started my job, I found it really difficult to give my exact price I felt was necessary. I would do jobs way below my cost price.
Thanks for the information
I've been working almost 10 hours a day and giving my all to work but still i am struggling and not get out of debt. I hope steemit and crypto will slowly get me out off that hell.
Replacing a dying HDD is a pain, it takes too long. I remember fixing my mom's old laptop. It took about 6-7 hours just to recover all the data.
Great point. I think your worth says a lot about how confident you are about your service/product and customers want that reassurance.
Wow thats a really intersting:)) And thanks for your motivation @exyle
@exyle,
"A client will forget how much he paid (or how much discount you gave him) and will only remember who helped him and how well."
Anyway dude what you did is risky too!
#1. He will know there are a lot of alternatives and cheap than yours.
#2. You are loosing your main source of income slowly.
For me you should not let that happen! After all this is crypto world and we lives in real world!
Cheers~
lekker bakkie !
i agree with you, Business confidence because of crypto.
viewed, voted, commented, and re-steemed ...
anyone follows me i'll follow back within a few days
It's a real pleasure to see my advice has been of help to you today. And it surely is a win-win situation when everybody is feeling happy in the end about the solution you provided for them!
That is what I call confidence and you sir have it. Do you also work on antminers say for instance they fail to connect to the internet?
cryptos definitely changing lifes around